Most Important Albums in Rock History

christangrant

The Top Ten

1Abbey Road - The Beatles

Supposedly, this was just about the beginning of the end of The Beatles. "Abbey Road" marked the last time all four members had recorded together in the studio (the next album "Let It Be" was released a year later, but includes mostly songs predating the recording sessions and existence of "Abbey Road").

Voted this album to overtake the offspring's smash as the number one on this list

As much as I hate the Beatles they deserve to be higher than the Offspring... - CaptainMowzker

Important because it was influential to a number of metal-associated genres such as death metal, black metal and thrash metal.

9Rising - Rainbow

Ronnie James Dio was the voice of this album.

10Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

This album needs to be higher. Jimi combined guitar skill with aggressive, distorted tone in a way that hadn't really been seen in the mainstream before. Rock guitarists to this day still cite it as an important influence on their playing. - Gg2000

Includes one of his famous songs "Purple Haze"!

The Contenders

11Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

The album that gave birth of the heavy metal genre!

12Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

13Seven Churches - Possessed

142112 - Rush

Obviously "2112" is an important album, not only because of the 20-minute epic title track, but it remains a big influence and inspiration on multiple genres, such as hard rock, metal, prog, alternative, just to name a few.

Along with "Toys In The Attic", "Rocks" was one of the albums that broke Aerosmith into critical acclaim and popularity.

This album should be #1 instead of that Offspring album.

The album that changes Slash's life!

At least this album is in the top 20.

19Stained Class - Judas Priest

20The Doors - The Doors

21The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico

Musician and producer Brian Eno famously stated that while the album (released in 1967) initially only sold 30,000 copies, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band." Genres that were significantly informed by the album include art rock, punk, garage, grunge, shoegaze, gothic, indie, and most other forms of alternative music (thanks wikipedia). - Lotuscandy

22Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin

23Back in Black - AC/DC

24The Smiths - The Smiths

25Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Chili Peppers' breakthrough album

26The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie

27Who's Next - The Who

28London Calling - The Clash

29Hotel California - Eagles

Their best-selling and most famous album!

30Stone Roses - Stone Roses

31Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

32Ok Computer - Radiohead

33Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

The category is "most important", so it is this, and no other. Period.Categories like "best", most epic", or "my favorite" are totally separate.